Firefighters to get cancer coverage benefits even after retirement under new North Carolina law

A new law just signed by Governor Roy Cooper is aimed at protecting those who protect us. It all comes after families of firefighters diagnosed with cancer fought for years for more support and funding.

It would impact families like Christy Burgess. Her husband Nathan was a Raleigh firefighter and burn instruction who served for decades.

"He truly enjoyed what he did and being able to serve his community, there was a lot of pride in that," she says.

Things changed during the pandemic. A sore throat after getting COVID turned out to be cancer. Multiple rounds of chemo and radiation didn't help, and Nathan passed away.

Christy says even with insurance, out of pocket medical expenses added up.

"Nathan's teeth got destroyed that his dental care afterwards was over 20,000 dollars, just the cost of going through cancer we probably hit close to 2 million dollars total," she says.

Sadly, Nathan isn't alone. Battalion Chief Keith Wilder sees cancer cases becoming more common. Experts say it's from the gear they wear and the toxins they are exposed to.

"That's one of the things we stress to firefighters while they're on the job to protect themselves is that firefighters are being chased by cancer into retirement," Wilder says.

The new law extends protections 10 years after retirement, and funds a $37,000 payout benefit for a first instance of cancer and another payout if there's a second diagnosis.

Senate Bill 319 puts North Carolina among the top states for these kinds of benefits for firefighters.

For Wilder, it's important as younger firefighter like his son who want to follow in their footsteps.

"We're not going stop having fires, we're not going to take the toxic chemicals out of the fires that we have to learn to work smarter with the gear that we have and protect our skin to make sure we aren't going to have small issues that will cause us medical issues down the road," he says.

SEE ALSO | New North Carolina laws in effect include increased DMV and Wildlife services fees and more